Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares were up 4.6 percent at $72.72 in premarket trading on Thursday.

Gross merchandise volume, or the total value of goods transacted on its platforms on China retail marketplaces, rose 23 percent to 964 billion yuan ($147 billion), its slowest annual growth rate in more than three years.

Alibaba is trying to replace decelerating volume growth in online shopping by expanding in other areas.

It offered $3.7 billion to become sole owner of Youku Tudou Inc <YOKU.N>, known as China's YouTube. Online video users in the country are beginning to cough up money for high-quality online streaming services.

But the majority of Alibaba's revenue still comes from China's online shoppers buying from domestic businesses, a business driven by growth in GMV.